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next on msnbc saturday, the finish line. why today may be the day that the gulf oil well is finally plugged for good. it's big, bad and growing stronger. hurricane igor bearing down on bermuda. also ahead, leading the charge. sarah palin goes to a presidential proving ground to rally the troops. what has lindsay lohan done now that could put her back behind bars? good morning, everyone. welcome to msnbc saturday. i'm alex witt. just past 11:00 here on the east coast, 8:00 a.m. on the west coast. that blown-out well on the bottom of the gulf coast could be sealed today. now they're working to make sure that well is stopped for good. kristen dahlgren is live for us

in venice, louisiana. so another good morning. how is it going at this point? >> reporter: hey, good morning, alex. we're still waiting for any word to come from about 50 miles off the coast here where that operation is under way. the last we heard from bp was some time yesterday afternoon that they had started the cementing process. that started at about 1:30 local time. it was expected to take a few hours. then they needed to let that cement cure. after that they were going to do their pressure test. then at that point they would be able to declare this well killed, that it would never again leak any oil into the gulf of mexico. they did expect to make that announcement at some point today. so we are still waiting. this comes after a long summer of waiting for this bottom kill. the relief well took several months to saúñ1!xúan"jdrill. dr beneath the floor of the gulf. they met up with that original well and then began this cementing process. so kind of an exclamation point on top of this static kill that they already did that stopped

the flow of oil into the gulf about 65 days ago. so we are just waiting for the final word. for people here, though, of course, it's not the end of the road by any means. they still see oil coming ashore, even this week in louisiana officials collected about 25,000d gallons of oil. so that gives you some idea of just how much they are still finding and still seeing a lot of impacts along the shoreline, alex. >> what about the impact to the economy overall, the tourism industry, fishing industry. any é >> well, you know, on top of being just an enormous ecological disaster, this has been an economic disaster for this area. this is an area that heavily relies on these water, on the fishing, on the shrimping and then on the tourism that's tied to it. all these places here are fishing lodges and they need the tourists to come back to fish. they've been getting by this summer because many have been hired for the cleanup process. so these boats have been going out looking for the oil, laying that boom earlier in the summer.

so they've been okay to this point. they also do have their claims in to bp, but that's been a long process. they're waiting for their claim money. then they're afraid once bp starts to pull out of this cleanup process, once the coast guard goes away, it will take some time for the tourists to come back. then they're also waiting for people to feel comfortable eating the sod and the shrimp out of the gulf as well. there's been a huge drop in

>> the large waves are already arriving. the area of red closer to center there, that's where the hurricane force winds. that's where the damage will occur, power will go out. that should occur looks like sunday night. they're keeping it as a 2 now, no longer a category 3. that center line goes right over the top of bermuda. if there is an eye over the top of the storm, the eye will go right over the island. monday. this will be a sunday night event. that's when the crazy pictures and everything else will come out late in the evening. as far as the computers go, it

is set in stone. there's not a lot that will change with this storm. all these lines almost go right through bermuda or just barely to the left. even if it was to the left, that means we'll still get the worst of the storm on the right. that's always the case. if you're on the right side of the storm when it makes landfall, that's the worst case. that's what the computers are saying. it will take days to a week before we get all the exact details out of there. we have our weather crews there, we'll get the first information right here. >> kind of scary to know what's coming on shore. people are getting stocked up. >> this is a long time. five days ago we said it was heading for=bqw bermuda. it hasn't changed. >> i hope they're bearing down. thanks very much, bill karins. 18 people were injured this morning after a charter bus crashed into a barrier in texas. about bus did not overturn but some passengers were ejected through side windows that opened on impact. the bus service said the

accident occurred after the driver tried to avoid a vehicle that squer have beened in front of him. as far as the tea party goes, activists are fair game. speaking at the annual ronald reagan dinner in iowa yesterday, sarah palin aimed her message at members of her own party. >> we can't blow it, gop, but we won't wait for that political playbook to be handed us from on high from the elites. it may take some renegades going rogue to get us there. it may take folks shaking us up, shaking it up to get there. >> so what does palin's leadership mean to the tea part- and will she try to ride the wave of voter anger all the way to the oval office? we'll talk about that with our pl political strategist coming up. american hiker sarah shourd is expected to speak out as she boards a flight back to the united states.

she has health problems. was released last week on compassionate grounds. she's been staying in oman after that country helped to mediate her release. all three were arrested 13 months ago after straying across the border from iraq. people in afghanistan went to the polls today to vote in parliamentary elections but not without the threat of violence from the taliban. today's elections are being looked atn'b as a key test of t government's ability to fight insurgents and corruption. john yang is there with the very latest. what can you tell us? >> well, they're counting those votes right now, the ballots right now. there were at least ten deaths, as you say. three civilians and seven afghan security forces. but the violence was a lot less than people had feared, a lot less than the taliban had threatened and a lot less than in last year's presidential election. that presidential election, of

course, ended with about a million votes being thrown out for voting irregularities. so today was also a test not just of security forces but a test of the government's ability to carry out a free and fair election. already complaints have been coming in about irregularities today. there are commissions, both government and independent watchdogs who have watched over the elections today and will be taking a look at those complaints as the days go on. )ñ249 seats in the ñiparliament. the losers will outnumber the winners at the end of it about 10-1. so they expect a lot of complaints from those losers. >> you are seeing what the end of october, really, it will take long before anything's official? >> that's right. it's going to take a long time. we don't expect even partial official results for another several days. and perhaps not until the end of

the month before we get preliminary final numbers. and then final official certified results aren't expected until the end of october, alex. >> a long wait. but we'll have to do it with your help. john yang, thank you. sunday, the u.s. role in u.s. iraq and afghanistan. be sure to watch tomorrow on nbc. check your local listings for the time. the koran burning that wasn't is producing a new kind of outrage today. even though he declined a burn a single copy of the koran on the anniversary of 9/11 last weekend, the extra security the city supplied will cost more than $200,000. they expected the center to foot the bill for the 200 on-duty officers and the sheriff's deputies called to the church. but the gainesville city manager doesn't know if the city has the legal authority to make that

church pay. a newspaper is reporting that terry jones may move his church to tampa so he and his flock can make a fresh start. demonstrators hit the streets of london to protest the pope's visit. we have a live report coming up. also ahead, the miraculous survival of a 2-year-old little boy who spent almost half an hour under water in a ditch. what was it that brought him back to life? copd doesn't just make it hard to breathe... it makes it hard to do a lot of things.

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now the latest on hurricane igor. that storm is expected to hit bermuda late sunday as a category 2, but until then it's expected to produce dangerous rip currents along the east coast. to get more on the path of igor, to do that, we're joined by daytona beach, florida. with a good morning, what's the

latest on igor. as well as some waters behind you. they're looking pretty, but they can be dangerous. >> yeah, absolutely, alex. a couple of dangerous beach days in shore all along the eastern seaboard. daytona beach one of the spots we're watching. i'll take you out to the atlantic now. it doesn't look menacing whatsoever. we're at low tide right now. but this situation is going to continue to change throughout the day today, about 5:30 this evening. that's high tide. we'll be up near that five-foot range, i should say. and that would be the situation once again tomorrow.-a now, beach officials tell me it's not so much those waves they're worrying about, however. it is the strong rip currents that will be hitting these beaches over the next several days. so even though the waves look ìc% a lot of the guards are done for this summer, so the beach is still packed. the weather is beautiful. and that's not a great combination when you're talking

about some very dangerous rip currents from igor. so the/-c word to the wise here swim near a lifeguard. don't venture out. and if you do get into trouble, try to float and stay parallel to the shore. by the way, alex, hurricane earl, labor day weekend, 300 rescues along this very beach. so learnly guards are not hoping for a repeat of that situation. >> iot t>wj39 can imagine. before we let you go, we hear that bermuda is bracing for the worst of igor. but in terms of the weather up and down the eastern seaboard, to what extent will people feel it with rain and wind beyond what these rip currents are going to bring? >> well, you know, it's still about 1100 miles off shore. it's a huge storm. that gives you an idea how much energy it will have, that it will be making any impact at all here in terms of wave action and rip currents. as far as weather is concerned, we're not expecting any impact. tropical storm force winds will stay off shore. the winds will contribute to the

rip current situation. the weather should be fine. but again a double-edged sword. you have the nice weather which means more people are at the beach which means more people could get into trouble when they get stuck in the waters. >> thanks for the heads up. be careful. thanks, julie martin. >> yep. >> for the very latest on hurricane igor and the extreme weather impacting this weekend, you can go to weather channel.com. sarah palin doesn't often play by the established political rule, but her visit to iowa yesterday is fueling speculation that if a 2012 presidential run's in her future, she knows exactly where to start. the former governor delivered a high profile speech to the gop in that key primary state. we'll bring in pat buchanan, republican strategist and also with us karen finney, former dnc communications director and msnbc contributor. welcome back to the two of. >> hi. >> hi, alex. >> ladies first here. karen, beginning with you. a simple trip to the midwest or

something much bigger. >> if that trip to the midwest is iowa about this time of year, yeah, that's presidential politics. although i actually don't think that sarah palin's final intention is to run for office. i think she's enjoying kind of being a political celebrity. she's had a good primary runs, she's able to give paid speeches and weigh in with her advice without having the accountability of her own ideas. >> do you agree with that, pat? do you think she's going to not make a run for it? >> without any doubt she's enjoying the role she's playing now. the trip out to iowa, whether she's going to run or not, has caused tremendous amount of excitement and interest and elevates her profile even higher. but i wonder if she's going to get in -- my guess is she won't make the decision until later in the season and most of them will make it for this reason. iowa's a retail state. you have to go out there, talk

to those folks, make speech after speech after speech, you're invited everywhere. and it's very, very tough, hard work. and it consumes an enormous amount of time. and my guess is she may -- that she has not made the decision yet, and i'm not exactly sure it's going to be that she's going to make it, but a tremendous poll or push is going to be on her to get in. karen, i don't have to tell you that sarah palin's a polarizing figure but she's wildly popular among the base. >> sure. >> how much of a poshl threat does she really pose to the white house? >> i don't think she poses a threat to the white house. i certainly think she has energized the republican party and for those within her own party who criticize her, they should be thanking her, because she'll help keep the tea party movement inside the gop. that being said, the gop has to learn how to be a big tent party. that's a bigger challenge than you might think on the face of it. i don't think the white house is into any kind of predictions,

democrats predicted or hoped for ronned a reagan to be the candidate to run against some time ago and that didn't turn out so well. so no predictions. but you know, again, we'll watch and see what sarah palin does. i think she's going to enjoy, again, being a bit of a kingmaker if you will. >> pat, your own experience running your own campaign for the presidency. what would make palin not run for president? what kind of a threshold do you think she would cross and you say, okay, she's not running? >> one thing she'd look at and she'd say given the fact that she has been damaged very badly over the attacks over the years and she'd have a much tougher time winning a presidential election than she would the nomination. i would put her as a favorite for the nomination if she stepped in, but here's what she would say. look, i'm a tremendous force in american politics. an endorsement from sarah palin saved or made five or six candidates this year, knocked off five or six republican.

she's got that. if you go into the primaries, it's an oord uous process and you're torn down and torn down. by the end of the presidential '92, four of us, brown, bush, bill clinton all had negatives in the 40s just because of they constant attacks. >> pat, you can agree at this point in time, if you're serious you've got to start to lay out some kind of policy agenda. once you start to do that and actually take positions, you're accountable for those ideas. that can affect your popularity. she's enjoying this role now where she can speak in generalities but she's not really accountable to any ideas. >> you're exactly right on that. for example, i really like sarah palin. i think she's terrific. she's got great values. but i think i disagree with her on war policy going forward and issues like iran. now, if she came out and ran and said, you know, we really ought to take out iran's nuclear

facilities militarily, all of a sudden you're going to get opposition from ron paul in the republican party and the anti-war right. and so that starts splitting off part of this enormous coalition. right now everybody can say, as they could for obama, we're all behind obama, but when obama gets hit all of a sudden he's making decisions and he's losing people left and right, that's exactly right. once you take stands one after another after another, the vast constituency you came in with, it harden, but it shrinks. >> all right, you guys. let that be the last word. we know we'll be talking about sarah palin all three of us just like this again. >> oh, yeah. >> pat buchanan, karen finney. >> have a good saturday. >> you too. in a bit we'll hear from chris matthews if he thinks sarah palin is running for 2012. expected to be introduced in the senate next week aimed at getting rid of that policy. but what is the military take on

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proponents are applauding the decision of washington to schedule a vote on don't ask, don't tell. the measure being voted on deals with the defense budget and includes a provision to do away with the policy regarding gays in military. it is facing several hurdles including a filibuster. there is a threat of a veto. joiningxd me now army colonel je jacobs and joining us from washington, d.c. retired us army general barry mccaffrey. good morning to you both. >> good morning, alex. >> general, i'll begin with you. how likely is it that the don't ask, don't tell will be repealed next week? i know you've gone on record saying it'sowi coming. but does it happen next week? >> hard to say. it's possible to imagine that

defense bill not getting passed pretty darn soon. if we put 100,000 troops in combat in afghanistan in jeopardy, it would be politically lethal to the opposition of this bill. so at some point it still goes through. i sort of hope it goes through with that amendment intact and get this issue off the table. we're fighting a war. this is a distracter. the american people want us to move on. >> that's a perspective. what about you, colonel? do you think the military is ready to implement the repeal of don't ask, don't tell and if so, why? >> some months ago secretary gates said that it will take some time for the defense department to make plans so that it can execute the order to get rid of don't ask, don't tell, and it sounds like it's really trivial,vd(ñ but there are a lo administrative and logistical things to sort out.çó housing, for example, who rooms with whom. straight people have to room with gay people and all that

stuff. also there are lots of policies to be written. others that have to be rewritten. that takes time. and of course, there's education. at some level, people are going to have to be resocialized. a certain number of people are going to have to be resocialized about the whole notion of gays in niltary. soldier, will agree with me. when the bullets and shrapnel start flying around, nobody cares who anybody is or what anybody is. they all fight for each other. >> i was going to ask you about that, general. is the cole nell making a statement with which i know you agree. but talk about the intrigues and the difficulties out there. nobody does care. so is this issue overinflated from a military perspective? do you find this as being something that activists are driving more than anything else? >> well, look, one of the studies that's probably imprecise has around 66,000 gays

in the military. 1% inactive force and 3 1/2 in components. who knows. there won't be less gays after we change the policy. we will change the policy. but i personallymç want the la changed, then sort out the fallout implications. some will be contentious. housing policy, jack jacobs says. but the more you talk about some of these secondary issue, the more painful they will get. we need to move forward, change the law and let the battalion command sergeants sort out along with the policy guys the inevitable disagreements. >> that's a wrap right there. colonel, just because the general got more çótime, it in way reflects the higher ranking right there. all right? >> we're old pals and it=)mé1t matter. >> all right it's allçó good. we have an incredible story about a 2-year-old boy who fell

in a water-filled ditch and was under water for almost a half hour. this morning he's alive and well. an amazing story. you hear what they're up to now? some in congress are getting squeezed by the special interests again. trying to delay action and give polluters free reign to keep dumping toxic pollution into the air. the air our children breathe. letting big oil lobbyists get their way again, and again, and again. it's a last-minute bill, written by special interests, looking for a payback. washington politicians need to get off the dime, and not let corporate polluters off the hook. ♪ [ male announcer ] we touch a lot of things throughout the day. so it's nice that clorox disinfecting products help kill the germs that can live

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it's msnbc saturday. 32 past the hour. here's your headlines. crews in the gulf of mexico are pumping cement into the blownout oil well and bp expects it to be completely sealed this time today. polls closed in afghanistan's parliamentary elections. the taliban launched a series of attacks that killed at least two people. bermuda is bracing for hurricane igor. the storm could hit the island nation tomorrow night. alaska senator lisa murkowski says she'll run in the she lost the gop primary to tea party candidate joe miller last month. and lindsay lohan says she has failed a drug test in violation of her probation. so lindsay could now wind up back in jail. and those are your fast five headlines. right now an estimated

10,000 protesters are swarming the streets of london to protest pope benedict's vift to the uk. among the mob signs, the pope is wrong, and put a condom on. we have more from hyde park. >> reporter: here in london, hyde park, 65,000 people are gathering to watch a vigil hosted by pope benedict. most of the people behind me arriving are here toñkç welcomee pope, but on the other side of london, well, it's quite a different story. some 10,000 people are converging upon the streets of london to protest against the vatican's views on a whole range of issues from gay rights to the role of women in the catholic church and also the vatican's stance on contraception. the key issue that has the united kingdom is certainly the issue of child abuse within the catholic church. now in a mass today in london's westminster cathedral, pope

benedict publicly apologized for what he calls unspeakable crimes committed by some catholic priests on children. >> thank you for that. meantime, sympathy is replaced by shock an confusion today as investigators are trying to determine why a washington woman intentionally disfigured herself by burning her face with acid. bethany soros parents are apologizing for that stunt which she has admitted to, but they are baffled by their daughter's decision to hurt herself. >> as any good parent would, we stood by our daughter when she told us the different scenarios. we stood by her. we believed her. any good parent would do that. >> there were no signs and you know we really don't know why at this point, but it's our hope that the medical community can find the answers. >> they'll return all the money donated to help his daughter.

a police officer in duluth lass this dash cam video to thank for being cleared in the death of a teenager. that 17-year-old seen here attacking the police car with a baseball bat. then he's warned twice to stop. he's later shot in the chest and killed after refusing to drop his weapon. the county attorney ruled that the shooting was justified. a remarkable story of survival. a toddler who came back to life after his heart stopped for nearly an hour. lee cowan has the story of a little boy who beat all the odds. >> reporter: he was supposed to be a fun fourth of july vacation for the family. way up in the colorado mountains. but when their 2-year-old son wandered away, everything changed. >> absolute 4[ghch#9ñ i was -- i was crying so hard, i couldn't even run any more. >> reporter: just a few hundred yards from the family cabin is an irrigation ditch and inside they found the boy. >> what is your emergency? >> yes, a little boy that's

drowned. >> reporter: he had been underwater almost half an hour. >> i think we're too late. >> reporter: his grandfather, a retired orthopedic surgeon frantically started cpr. ten more minutes passed and still nothing. >> he was just pale. >> reporter: after an hour, they got his heart going again. that water was unrelenting. but there's one element that the colorado rks give to almost every drop of water that rolls out of them that in this case was potentially life saving. the water was cold. his temperature had dropped to just 87 degrees. in a last ditch effort doctorséc stone cold, in hopes of protecting his brain. >> so they pumped ice cold fluids into him. they put him on a cooling ring. >> reporter: for two days they sat huddled by his chilly bedside, frozen themselves in fear. then doctors started to raise his body temperature. >> all i hoped for was to be able to hold him again. and here he's waking up.

>> reporter: he was rushed in for an mri and the results shocked everyone. >> it came back no abnormalities. not one single thing in his brain mri that was wrong. >> reporter: doctors are slur the cold therapy is what saveded him or not. no matter. for gore, the end of a big av adventure fp for her family, faith renewed. >> great story, 2c!ñright? us sort through all the card offers showing up in your mailbox. lord of the carry-on. sovereign of the security line. you never take an upgrade for granted. and you rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go. you can even take a full-size or above. and still pay the mid-size price. i deserve this. [ male announcer ] you do, business pro. you do. go national. go like a pro.

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the island of bermuda's bracing for the arrival of hurricane igor which is already bearing down on that island. new video shows the surf is beginning to pick up as the hurricane could possibly make landfall in bermuda tonight. for the latest on igor, jim cantore is joining us live from bermuda. last hour, you know, i'm listening to you, the tone of

your voice, what's coming their way. i'm getting a little nervous. what's the latest there? around, first. around, then i'm going to maybe get a little backup, if you will, as i talk to another meteorologist here. i want to pan out to that rock out there, which, by the way, yesterday, you could see just a little bit of the top of it. so my point is that the wave action has been so strong it's pulled the sand right off the beach. and continues to pull the sand right off the beach. i was told that we'll probably see all rocks here before all is said and done. i'm going to let my cameraman pull back in. while he's doing that, i will 8zrt in dr. eric williford, a ph.d. who is with a company here who does weather predictions. he'll give us an idea what we're dealing with here. eric, i'm not getting a sense that everyone is really concerned about this storm. i've certainly been through storms before. but here we are, 440 miles away. a storm that's producing huge wave action like this.

try to put this in perspective for me. >> this is one of the largest atlantic hurricanes we've seen in terms of the gale force winds. right now ranks about third on the list out of a pretty noble list of storms. and it's, yeah, much larger broad wind scales than those storms. the wind produced is tremendous to bring out these type of waves this far away from the system. >> how high are the waves going to be here? >> the estimated wave height just off shore -- bermuda is e waves they're expecting 30 to 40 foot seas off shore, maybe a little higher depending on where that eye structure of the center is exactly. >> so we'll lose the beaches? >> the beach action will go on all the way till monday morning. so absolutely. the sand just naturally washes away. it is not unprecedented to have parts of the beaches wash away and even emotion into the rock base, then the sand will naturally come back. >> what about structural damage?

we know trees and power lines. especially a long duration event likeñi this. >> these structures are very well -- most of them have been through fabian just seven years ago and lawrence about four years ago. hopefully the structural issues are not as significant. the foliage, the trees and shrubberies will all come apart. that will be debris that hits structures and windows on the east and south side of the island need to be very well protected. as far as long-term structural damage, hopefully they'll be able to hang in there and do all right. >> we'll wait and see. thank you. i appreciate that. this time another perspective from another meteorologist, alex, obviously we're going to deal with a major blow-in through here. everybody is on standby, the regiment, the army, to clear away the debris and get power back on the island. we do expect to lose power for this entire island during this event. >> thanks for all the updates on

what's coming their way, jim cantore. you can go to weather.com. right now, it's anybody's game. a wide field of republicans testing the water ahead of the race i asked chris matthews who has the early edge? >> i just think, she's dynamite. she gets on the stage and does that windshield wiper wave and turns on the crowd and she's got that great voice that you can't ignore. this time of the year, which is basically a protest season, she's the best protester there is. and i think wherever she goes she spreads that magic she created. joe miller, nobody ever heard of her, now she'll be the governor of alaska. now christine o'donnell. it doesn't work everywhere, but you go to a rural area where people are unhappy with the economy, sarah palin is the king. >> is she a king as a politicalb

firecracker, an upstart, somebody who generates things or is she the king as a candidate? >> well, we'll see. i think if this economy stays where it is, alex, you and i know it's terrible for people out there. middle aged people being thrown out of work. people who worked all their lives out of work. ç off. they're not in the mood for thinking through different alternatives. they're going to move for protest. as long as that mood continues, i think the best protest candidate out there is sarah palin. she's attractive, obviously, people like to look at her, they like to listen to her. but her message is obviously protest. she's not a government person. you can't imagine her as secretary of defense or secretary of state or attorney general, but people can imagine her as a protest leader. and i think that that's the -- like jimmy carter was seen that way. and i think that in a certain mood at a certain time, a protest candidate can win, yeah. >> let's get to the rise of the tea party overall, the political

calculus certainly changing for the republicans as a party. let's take a listen to mitt romney yesterday. >> if only he had in fact been transparent and bipartisan and uniting as he pledged in his campaign, then perhaps he could have delivered on his promise of yes, we can. instead, we know all too well that no, he didn't. >> do you think that republican leaders are being forced into taking on more of these tea party principles? >> right. he's trying to be sarah palin and he comes off as dr. bob arnot. the fact is he doesn't work as a palinite. he's trying so hard to learn the word. pawlenty is trying to do the same thing. these guys are basically trying to be what they're not. they're establishment candidates with great pedigrees, come from very impressive families. they do everything right. that's not what it's about right now. i was thinking coming in this morning, in the 1960s when we

wanted movie stars like al pacino, dustin hoffman, protest anti-heroes, if you will. they're like tyrone power. we don't want heroes like that in the country right now. we want protest candidates. we want anti-heroes like christine o'donnell. and in a way, the less you know, the better. i mean it's incredible, but you don't really need to know anything to be a protest kand kate. you need to know a two-letter word "no." >> you can catch more of chris on "hardball" at 5:00 and 7:00 eastern right here on msnbc. who doesn't want to save money these days? those offers coming in the form of junk mail, nearly 1.1 billion credit card offers went out in the second quarter of this year. that's up from $419 million in 2009. helping me sort out all the junk offers from the good one is vera

gibbons. >> there is good stuff out there. good morning. >> there is good stuff out there, yeah. >> really popular is the cash-back incentive. that makes sense. can you tell us about that? >> that's the most popular reward card out there is the cash back. discover is one of the more popular cards, get 5% back on categories like gas, 1% back on 0% for the first six months, and 0% on balance transfers which makes this one a keeper. >> how about the rewards card for travel. >> the one i like best is the star wars preferred best. you get 10,000 point just for signing up. very easy to earn double, triple your points. you can redeem them for just about every aspect of travel. hotels, they're all over the country, all over the world. very easy to do that. a nice introductory offer of 2.9% for the first six months. no annual fee for the first year, then a minimal $45.

>> how about the best card for miles? >> i know you like your jetblue card. >> i do. >> because you're wedded to that airline. but everyone else capital one venture. you get 10,000 bonus miles when you spend at least a thousand dollars on the first three months. you can use these points on any airline any time. there's no expiration date. which makes it a real good card. there's no annual fee for first year, then after that $59. some airline cards will close you closer to $100. >> i may have to change, vera, on your good advice. >> thank you, alex. boeing wants to send tourists out into space. when would space travel for you and me become a reality and how much would it cost? there's the big thing to think about. [ male announcer ] at triscuit,

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here's a thought. something you might want to do if you have a few billion bucks lying around. boeing is entering the space

tourism business. it's developing rockets and space capsules to fly into low earth orbit after the space shuttle retires next year. joining us space counterdave brody. dave, is this the future of space tourism? is this where it's going to go realistically? >> well, it's a beginning. the reason i'm personally very excited about it is that this represents a whole new way of doing business in space. it's awñ move away from governmt space programs to the engine of private industry just as president obama asked us to do back in april. it is possible that eventually you and i, alex, will get to take one of these joy rides, though i have a hard time financially even thinking about it in an economy where one in seven people in the united states lives below the poverty line. >> when you think about it in terms of the vast amounts of money right now, but supply, demand, competition, it could all come into play. which means this could be a viable, safe way to travel?

i mean, what's the point? we're going to the lower earth orb bit there. is that where people want to go, you think? >> low earth orb bit gives you the chance to be in osh it. the problem with space tourism is that there's no "there" there beyond the space station right now and there are private companies that areptñ attempts put some "there" there so you have some place to go. even before you got to orbital space, you could go to sub orbital space to get six minutes of floating. it could happen in a year, 18 months, maybe even sooner. there are some things you can do cheaper. >> that's richard branson right there. but regard to boeing, how long will that take realistically speaking. branson's had that out there for quite a while. >> the boeing vehicle is not primarily designed as a space tourism vehicle.

it's designed to carry nasa and russian and international astronauts to the international space station. and there's some intention to use that to go to some other interesting places. that won't fly till 2015 or so. it may be that the dragon capsule gets there sooner. so there would be competition for boeing. competition isless a good thing to energize an industry. >> so the space shuttle program with its retirement coming up shortly, any future like that from the nasa perspective or is private company travel, is that the way we're going to go? >> it depends on what happens in the congress right now. president obama asked for a whole new way of doing business in space, a way to fulfill president bush's vision of a permanent human presence beyond earth orbitw3 or beyond space. and what we have is trouble in the congress right now, let me put it that way. >> really? you think? on that and a few other things.

but you weren't supposed to talk politics. i appreciate your time, dave brody. that wraps up our saturday coverage. stay with us for headlines and up next al roker reporting. wake up with me tomorrow morning. and i suffer from allergies. [ male announcer ] we asked zyrtec® users what they love about their allergy relief, and what it lets them do. the thing i love most about zyrtec® is that it allows me to be outside. [ male announcer ] we bet you'll love zyrtec®, too -- or it's free. [ vonetta ] it is countdown to marshmallow time. [ woman laughs ]

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